Driver shot, killed

STOCKTON - A five-block stretch of East Fourth Street in south Stockton was roped off Sunday afternoon as police investigated a shooting believed to be gang-related that took the life of a 38-year-old man.

STOCKTON - A five-block stretch of East Fourth Street in south Stockton was roped off Sunday afternoon as police investigated a shooting believed to be gang-related that took the life of a 38-year-old man.

The victim, whose identity has not been released, was driving a white GMC Yukon shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday at East Fourth and South California streets when shots rang out. He managed to drive three blocks east to South Grant Street before knocking down a utility pole on the northeast corner of the intersection.

A witness at Fourth and California said she saw a man stick a handgun out of the open window of a gray Chevrolet Impala and fire six to eight rounds. The witness, who declined to provide her name out of fear for her safety, said it appeared the shooter was first aiming at a house on California Street, then took aim at the Yukon.

Several spent bullet casings could be seen littering the intersection.

Neighborhood resident Daisy Acosta, 21, said she had just arrived home from a store and was unloading her car when she heard several gunshots from several blocks away.

Another woman said that after the crash, she saw several people run up to the Yukon.

"People were screaming, screaming, screaming, saying he's dead. Breathe, breathe, breathe, don't go, don't go," she said she heard. The woman was shooed away by police before she could provide her name.

Police spokesman Officer Joe Silva said investigators early on determined the shooting "appears to be gang related." He could not provide further information on a possible motive or suspect description.

Several officers with the countywide gang task force showed up at the scene at Fourth and Grant about a half-hour after police first arrived, then fanned out through the surrounding neighborhood.

Sunday's shooting is the 22nd homicide Stockton police have investigated this year.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.